Time For An Update--

Life is seeming to go so fast. I would love to be able to find the brakes somewhere!!!

Khara and Kelsey are really getting into the rhythm of school and loving it!! Kelsey let me know Thursday that 'Dustin' was no longer her boyfriend--"he's mean"!! "Well then by all means drop him like a hot potato"!!!!! (EEEEKKKKK--she's 6)

Last weekend my mom and I finally got around to accomplishing the dreaded task of having a Garage Sale!!! Khara, Kelsey, and Kaden were very sad to see it come to an end. There is something about having steady "company" for 2 days the they really enjoyed. It's a great feeling to clear out a bunch of stuff !! Saturday Kaden looked up at my mom and said, "Grandma, what are you gonna be when you grow up?". Needless to say, people that were at the sale and heard him thought it was just priceless! :-)



Saturday evening, in celebration of my dad's birthday the next day, we went to an incredible steak house. Absolutely delicious!!!!!
Patiently waiting to be seated.


My dad thought it was one of the best steaks he has ever had!!

Onion Ring Appetizer, we didn't realize the size of them and made the mistake of ordering two of them! Delicious!!!

Karson just woke up from his nap so that ends this post. :-)

What A Deere--

Look what showed up in our yard this morning.


Kaden and I went out and watched them for a while. Every little boys dream-- to operate one of these. Kaden has big plans for his shovel, tractors, road graders, etc. once they are gone and leave some loose dirt. All of the water lines are being replaced along our road so we've gone through about 6 months of having a torn up yard--uggghh!

Success!!!!

This week:


Made a few more jars of salsa to add the the collection.


I tried out a new venture this week: Apple Butter. I was never that fond of apple butter until I had it freshly made, still warm, at a festival last year. With some apples from the neighbors, Kaden and I had fun with the nifty little apple tool from pampered chef. I put all the ingredients in the crock pot for several hours and we love the results. On warm biscuits....Delicious!!! Definitely something I will make more of!!

And now for my biggest Success of the Week: My Walgreen stop today. I have totally fallen in love with all the great deals you can get at Walgreens and CVS!! I think today was my best deal so far.


These are all of the products I got today. (plus a 2nd pack of Extra Gum--Khara already had that in her purse, and a 2nd roll of LifesSavers--it doesn't take 3 kids long to down those) By using lots of coupons, a $6 gift card, and several "Free after mail-in-rebate" deals, I will only have paid $11.85 for ALL!!! WOO-HOO!!!! I'll take shopping trips like this any day! :-)

Pictures From August!

Wow, I just can't hardly believe that August is over. Before we wave it a final goodbye, I'll share a few pictures from our happenings.


The Missouri State Fair:


Kendall and Leanna were at my parent's house that weekend. We all went to the fair for the day.




Karson enjoyed the day! :-)

This is how he fell asleep a couple of times during the day. Chewing, chewing,...zzzzz


The little future Dr./nurses, gazing at the little piglets.


Every year in the Hiland Dairy building they have a butter carving sculpture. I am amazed at the detail and design; very intriguing. I can't remember how many pounds, and pounds of butter they use, but it's a lot!! At the end of the fair they melt it down to use it again next year.

~~~~~~~
Kendall and Leanna with Karson after church.


Karson has started really enjoying his baby food...

and his ice cream!!! :-)


Kaden's new hobby...a hammer and nails. Kaden LOVES his little hammer. Every year our local pharmacy sends out gift certificates for their customers birthdays. I was in there in May trying to let Kaden "spend" his certificate. We had found some little toys, trinkets, etc. when I asked Kaden if there was anything else he wanted. He said, "yeah, I want that hammer." I told him I didn't think they had hammers in a pharmacy. He took me over to the scrapbooking supplies. There was the hammer-- they say it's for embossing and what not. Kaden found that this little tool works for all kinds of things. Mark did have to tell him, no more nails in the tree trunks. He's all boy!!! :-)

-School Days-

Today was the big day!!! Khara and Kelsey greeted the morning before 7 a.m. (the first time that has happened in months), and very excitedly began the 2008-09 school year. Wednesday evening was open house, the time for them to meet their teacher and take all of their supplies. I snapped a few pictures of them with their teachers then so that I could let them 'fly solo' and hop on the big yellow bus this morning. This was Kelseys first time to ever ride the bus. She left all smiles!! :-)



Open House--The picture I took of Khara and her teacher had Mrs. Hutchisons eyes closed so here she is outside of her room.




Kelsey unloading all of her supplies. It's interesting to me the amount/type of supplies they need. Neither she nor Khara could even fit them all in their backpacks. Baby wipes, Ziploc bags, dry erase markers..... I have memories of a brown paper bag with the Big Chief Tablet, 2 Big Pencils, and 8 fat crayons. We all really enjoy doing the "back to school shopping" for supplies. When we were packing their supplies, Kelsey opened the package of erasers and said, "Khara, smell these...." awwww, memories.



Kelsey and her teacher, Mrs. Mays. Kelsey has the same teacher for 1st grade that Khara had. We love her!!




Ready to go for the first day!!


Khara is happy to have someone to wait for and ride the bus with.


And away they go....

Hey, I'm still around just being kept very busy these last few days of summer break. Kendall and Leanna came to Mo. Aug. 7. and were able to stay for several days. We had a great time going to the Mo. State Fair, fishing, enjoying homemade ice cream, eating great Mexican food, etc. We then started church camp last Sunday and enjoyed going to around 15 services. 6 people x 2 outfits(at least) per day x 8 days.....guess what I did today?? :-)

Tomorrow Mark is taking a day off and we're heading to the big city to finish up school shopping and have one more fun family outing. I promised a Chuck E. Cheese trip several weeks ago and they haven't forgotten. :-) Khara and Kelsey start back to school on Thursday which seems totally impossible! This has truly been the quickest summer ever for me!! They are excited to go back and I anticipate another great year. They both were placed in classes with great teachers! (Praise the Lord, this is always a matter of prayer and big concern for me!)

Well, I'm off to grab a few hours of sleep before we hit the stores runnin'. Hopefully I can take a minute to get that camera plugged in here before to long. Have a Terrific Tuesday!!!

Enjoying The Summer!!

This morning I was out in our garden before the kids were awake and got this picked:


The last of the corn from our garden.


Wonderful tomatoes!!

I now have 12 more bags of delicious corn tucked away in our freezer. On the schedule for Monday--can tomatoes or make salsa. I just love this time of year.



Thursday I made my first Walgreens trip in search of those amazing deals I've been hearing so much about. I was not disappointed!!!! I was able to purchase jumbo packs of diapers by using several different coupons for the incredible price of around $1.50 each. With that kind of price I stocked up.


This little guy got his first tooth Sunday.


The rest of the gang before leaving for church on Sunday.
Sisters!!!

Happy Anniversary, Brenda& Aaron!!

Happy 9th Anniversary BRENDA & AARON !!!!

Happy Birthday, Khara...and other July happenings!!

I'm finally getting around to posting.....whew, this summer is flying!!!

With 4 active children that go through lots of laundry, can rearrange the house pretty quickly, and want to be fed at least 3 times a day, library story-times, playing outside, a garden that is doing great, wonderful fresh produce (my parents and I put up 30 dozen ears of corn yesterday), blogging is taking a back seat. School starts one month from today, I'm hoping life will slow down just a little when school begins.

A few pictures from the past few weeks:

On July 6th, Khara turned the big 8 !! Aaron and Brenda and Jeff and Vicki were out at my parents over July 4th weekend so they were able to be here for her birthday on Sunday, the 6th.






A quick "sibling shot" after church.

Cute little Emme Grace Englund.


Brenda with drool marks from Karson. (Yep, that's Aaron in the background probably lighting some type of firecracker :-)

Kaden wanted some construction paper the other day. It kept both of them busy for at least 15 minutes (hey, that's a long time for a 4-month old and 3-year old). Kaden was cuttin' and Karson was chewin'. :-)


My little man that is growing wwaaaayyy to fast-- 5 months old yesterday!!

Branson!!

We just love Branson!! Last week we took a short trip with Jeff and Vicki and their five children. We packed the three days to the fullest and made many wonderful memories!!


First stop--Lamberts Restaurant.

Waiting for our name to be called at Lambert's. "Party of 13... 4 adults, 9 children." Caleb, Jeff, and Karson-- sporting Jeff's sunglasses.


Kelsey after having just caught the famous "hot roll". Obviously no one was aware of the photographer except Karson. :-)


"How about a chicken leg?!"




Celebration City~Getting ready to enter the park.


Kelsey, Kaley, Khara, Kaden, Drew. Vicki commented that if we have one more child we will be able to fill up this ride on both sides with just cousins!


Jeff and Vicki with there newest addition, 2 month old Emme.


Trying to get all the cousins on the big rocker for a picture.


Camen and Karson got pretty well acquainted waiting in strollers for the others to get off rides.

Yep, it was a bright, sunny, day!!

Neat little water area that Kaley and Kelsey played in while the older ones played mini-golf.


Gotta love those rides where the little ones can get on by themselves. Kaden and Kelsey with Kaley and Camen in the back.


The wonderful Shoot-the-Shoot. Vicki took Kaley, Kelsey, and Kaden on this five times while the guys and Khara were mini-golfing. I'm not thrilled with 'plunges' so I was more than happy to sit with Emme, Camen, and Karson.

When Jeff, Mark and the rest of them finished golf they had to try it out as well. They loved it!!! Seven more rides later, we tried something else. The rides were so quick to get on!!!



Karson at the old age of 4 months rode his first amusement park ride!!! I almost had to turn my head, but Mark was just certain he would be fine and love it. With a thin seat belt on and Caleb's strong arms holding him from the back, he rode the Bumble Bees. EEEKKKK!! We both survived! :-}


We returned home around midnight Wednesday night. A great three days spent with some great people who just happen to be wonderful family!!!